


I Can't Stop (Holding On)

by runningscissors



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Originally Posted Elsewhere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:29:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27404311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/runningscissors/pseuds/runningscissors
Summary: "Two tactile individuals who find each other in all the randomness of the universe."
Relationships: Metacrisis Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler, Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, The Doctor (Doctor Who)/Rose Tyler
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	I Can't Stop (Holding On)

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written in 2011 for then_theres_us @ livejournal

I

They touch. Two tactile individuals who find each other in all the randomness of the universe. They orbit around each other, pulled into the others gravitational pull till, inevitably, they find themselves touching regardless of where they are or what’s going on around them.

Hands clasped, the soft fleshy valleys of their fingers twined together. A hip bump, a playful shove or pinch to the side, the gentle weight of her hand grabbing at his arm in excitement or mirth.

They dance about the TARDIS, and when he dips her, her laughter chimes through the ship like church bells, echoing even after she’s gone to sleep for the night.

The feel of their arms thrown around one another. The caress of his hands as he cups her cheeks to comfort the spill of her tears.

The soft pressure of their lips as they meet for the first and last time.

They are touches of affection, familiarity, friendship, trust, consolation, this intrinsic connection they seem to share, and that unmentioned word that grows between them, unnoticed, but closer to budding every day.

Her touch awakens him just the same as it does a Dalek. Brings the man out of the machine.

II

They touch. Those first tentative grasps as she re-establishes their connection, that quickly snowballs into an intimacy the likes of which each has never known.

They touch without thought. He reaches to brush away a stray hair along her jaw, her hands diving under the layers of his jacket to clutch at the back of his shirt, hugs that press their bodies so close together, even their lips in a moment of euphoric happiness and gratitude. The weight of their hands swinging between them, the grooves of their palms fitting like interlocking puzzle pieces. Like his hand was designed purpose-made for holding hers. 

The concept of personal space does not exist; heads bent together in whispered jokes, the synchronicity of their thoughts as if they are dialled into a frequency only the two can hear.

It is togetherness— lovers in almost every respect except the most intimate of things. But really, that’s all about perspective because what they have is far more intimate than any sexual experience she’s ever had.

They are each other's safe haven, the circle of their embrace impenetrable to outside forces.

When she falls, he reaches out for her, arm stretched in futility. He thinks that is the cruellest part, that when they are forced to say goodbye, he can’t touch her. Can’t wipe the tears from her cheeks one last time, thread their fingers together in the tightest of weaves.

His hand is empty once more. 

III

They touch. The pads of her fingers hesitant and awed over his single beating heart. His newly human body that yearns for the feel of her, the warmth of her hand seeping through the material of his thin cotton t-shirt. 

It’s his hand on her arm, long fingers skimming down in the softest caress as he whispers the words they’ve both longed for.

And when they kiss, it is not gentle like the first one or filled with gratitude like the second, but a deep, burning love that finally boils over. It is passion. Teeth clacking, hands pulling closer, always, always closer till there is no space between them.

Where once universes were separating them, both the physical kind and the ones of his own making, now there is nothing. 

He takes her hand, and they both know, as they always have, that as long as they hold tight, as long as they are together, everything else will work itself out.


End file.
